


The Heat that Drives the Light

by mulderythrocyte



Category: The Gentlemen (2019)
Genre: Multi, enemies (kinda???) to lovers, fake dating (again kinda??)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:54:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24759664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mulderythrocyte/pseuds/mulderythrocyte
Summary: (...) “To pick up Jane. From some filthy pub, I presume?” saying that, Ray felt his hands itch. Not only because of the mentioned dirt, but the thought of her – of Jane – was making him slightly angry.Of all the people, Ray always has to take care of the person he can't stand the most. And he does that without blinking, because the person is close to his boss.
Relationships: Raymond Smith/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 35





	The Heat that Drives the Light

The night was peaceful and quiet. There was no rain or wind, and the phone hadn’t rang since nearly two hours, which allowed Ray to read a bit. It was too late for a book – Ray’s eyes were sore after all day of work, and his head seemed to be too heavy to think properly. A short article in a newspaper, which wasn’t requiring much attention, felt like a perfect idea to Ray. But the sweet calmness hadn’t lasted for long. When Ray was in a middle of the article, reading about some woman, who was convinced that she is able to contact her deceased husband through their cat, someone called. Ray didn’t want to pick up, but the title  _ “boss” _ crossed the screen, so he lifted the phone to his ear.

“Ray,” Michael spoke before Ray had a chance to. “I need you to do something for me.” he was talking slowly, but Ray could sense that he wasn’t as relaxed as he sounded.

“Is everything alright, boss?” Ray asked, fixing his gaze in the empty space in front of him.

“Everything is alright,” Michael repeated, again in his own pace. In his mind, Ray was able to see Michael rubbing his fingers one at another. “I just need you to pick someone up from... some place.” he said casually.

Ray closed his eyes, and shaking his head in disappointment, he sighed heavily. He knew who Michael was talking about. He could guess the place as well. “To pick up Jane. From some filthy pub, I presume?” saying that, Ray felt his hands itch. Not only because of the mentioned dirt, but the thought of her – of Jane – was making him slightly angry.

But there was no reaction from Michael to Ray’s words. He had enough of their battles, and the way they were acting around each other. “Can you do that for me, Ray?” 

“Of course, boss. I will take her home.” Ray rubbed his eyelids, slipping his fingers under the glasses he had on. Michael muttered something that sounded like a word of thanks, and then he hung up. The depth, the low volume of his voice meant that Michael was stressed, and probably wanted to keep a secret. Jane was the secret. “Fuck...” Ray sighed deeply, right after his boss got off the phone.

*

The pub was, indeed, filthy. And nearly dilapidated. The floor was sticky from the ages of spilled alcohol, and there were scrapes and unidentified stains all over the walls. The scent of sweat, smoke, beer and grease mixed in one, was in the air and sat heavily on every present person, then stayed on them for a long time. But despite all of this, Jane was feeling freely in these surroundings. Not because of the filth or the smell – it was a problem at the beginning, but there was nothing she could not get used to. She liked old bars and pubs for one particular reason; no one cared. All these modern clubs were too much about paying attention on appearance or behave.

“Hey,” Jane heard a voice coming from somewhere behind her back. She turned her head and saw a tall, pale man with a tufts of hair under his nose; she couldn’t tell if it was a moustache, or just an attempt to have one. “Can I buy you a drink..?”

“Thank you,” Jane shook her head. “but I’m good.” she pointed on the almost full glass in front of her. Then she grabbed and brought it to her mouth, looking away from the stranger. The thought of drinking more for someone’s money was tempting, but she knew she had enough of alcohol.

The tall man was still standing next to her. He was looking at her with his brow furrowed. “What’s wrong with ya, huh?” he asked with a higher tone. It seemed like all the politeness from the minute before had disappeared now. “I’m offering you a drink and you’re saying ‘no’?”

Normally, they weren’t brave or stupid enough to act like that, and even though he was certainly drunk, Jane saw no excuse for his behavior. In that case, she decided to ignore him.

“I’m talkin’ to you.” he put a hand on her shoulder. Jane reached for an empty bottle, which was standing near, and clenching her fingers tightly around the bottleneck, she hit the edge of the bar counter with it. Right after that, she lifted the sharp-edged part to the man’s face. 

“Exactly,” Jane said, raising her eyebrow. She smirked, but the expression of her face changed immediately; from kind of amused to a serious and a bit angry one. “And if I say ‘no’, I mean the same. Not ‘ask me again’. Just ‘no’.” she explained slowly to be clear. “If I cut you, will it help you to understand that?”

The man must have had much more alcohol in his system which had been giving him bad ideas. He was scared and confused at first, but after a moment he pushed Jane’s hand away and reached to a pocket in his jacked. He got out a small knife. Her mind was slightly dazed from all the portions of beer she had, though her body was acting fast. She leaned back, avoiding the man’s weapon, but when she stood upright, he attacked again. And this time, he succeed. Jane felt sharp pain on the left side of her face, which started to radiating all over with a hot weave. Then, everything stopped. Jane touched the sore place, her cheekbone, and there was blood left on her fingers. She looked up slowly, and fixed her gaze in the man’s face.

“I’m going to fucking strangle you with my bare hands.” Jane said angrily, rather like a little girl than a serious adult. 

As she was about to smash the rest of the bottle on his head first, she suddenly felt a strong grip around her free wrist. Turning around with irritation, she bumped into someone’s chest – hard as a stone. She looked up, and the last thing she had expected was Ray’s face. He seemed unbothered, maybe a little uncomfortable due to being in that specific place and the fact that the bottle was close to his throat now.

“Oh,” Jane opened her eyes wider. “Hi, Ray.” a broad smile was lightening her face, but at that moment Ray couldn’t be as enthusiastic as her. He paid attention to her cheek, but hadn’t said nothing about that.

“What are you doing?” Ray asked. He didn’t want her to answer; he just wanted her to acknowledge that whatever she had planned – it was wrong.

“At this point, I am trying to survive.” she shrugged carelessly.

Ray shifted his gaze from Jane to the man behind her. The man was tall, but not as tall as Ray. He was also much slimmer; Jane hadn’t knew a lot about that, but Ray appeared to be considerably stronger. Even so, Ray crushed that man with a look on his face alone. He seemed unimpressed, but at the same time it looked insanely dangerous – like the calm before the deadly storm. Ray was watching him, as the man was slowly backed down. When he left the building, Ray’s gaze wandered lower. He was still giving the impression of being completely calm, but Jane noticed his heavy breath and clenched lips. “If you want to survive, don’t come to places like this one.”

“Great advice. Impossible to follow, but great advice.” she nodded firmly. She could go like that the whole night, but she felt Ray’s hand tightening on her wrist. She was silent for a moment, watching the unmoved, yet irritated expression of his face. “Real moustache!” she yelled in some kind of excitement.

Ignoring her comment, Ray looked around. He placed his sight on the half-empty glass of beer. “How many of these have you had...” he sighed. He wasn’t even disappointed, just tired. He wished this night to end. “I’m taking you home.”

“That’s very sweet, but-”

“I don’t want to. I have to.” Ray interrupted her gently; he didn’t intend to be rude. He was just a little severe by nature. “Don’t make it any harder.”

Jane was capable of making it harder. But by the look on his face, she didn’t have the heart to annoy Ray more. She was able to appreciate his commitment, even if she didn’t need to be saved.

She stepped back, as Ray let her wrist go. She set the destroyed bottle on the counter, and looked up on the barman who was standing behind it. “Sorry for that, Bobby...” she rubbed the cape of her neck.

“That’s alright, kid. He clearly deserved that.” the barman smiled warmly, so Jane did the same.

She checked if her phone still was in the back pocket of her jeans. “Right. We can go now. I’m getting the front seat!” she added quickly, and then started to run toward the exit.

“No, you are not.” Ray replied, and he went after her much slower, in his own deliberate pace.

“I can’t hear you!”

*

Jane looked out the window, when the car stopped. It was dark, but she was sure that she had never seen that area before. They were in a strange place, and even if Jane didn’t feel the fear, she was a bit concerned. “Where are we?” she looked at Ray. He was already out of the car, so she had to do the same to hear the answer.

“I don’t like to leave my work undone.” he said simply. Without revealing more, he went forward.

Jane closed the car door. “If you want to get rid of me, I wouldn’t advise it.” she raised her eyebrows. “I’ll fight back, you know it.” she added, but Ray didn’t stopped.

With a little smile across her face, Jane lifted up her chin to look at the dark sky. The little lights placed on the coping were gleaming with a silver glow. In the center of the city, it was almost impossible to see the stars because of all these street lights. But being here, all it took was to look up.

She could sense that Ray had disappeared somewhere. She wasn’t panicking; she saw the lights in the windows of a near building, she saw Ray’s silhouette as well. She decided to join him, mainly because it was getting colder outside.

Jane walked into a big, definitely old house that must have belonged to Ray. Not because it was old, but he had brought her here. The first room with a high ceiling, apparently the holl, turned out to be so interesting that Jane doubted for a while that Ray was living there. The walls were covered in a cold, subdued shade of turquoise, but the colour still looked too vivid for Ray. Beside that, there were also frames with rather photographs than paintings; one of them depicted the front of a car, the thing on the other one looked like a plane.

“Why...” Jane whispered to herself with some kind of disgust. Then, she looked around. She immediately fell in love with the chandelier that looked like a calmer version of a crystal ones from the twenties. And the persian, maybe russian patterned carpet.

Jane heard a loud grunting, so she turned around quickly. Ray was standing in the doorway placed between those two, ugly photographs. “Are you lost?”

“I was just...” she pointed her finger in random direction, but then she realised that Ray wasn’t interested in her explanations. He wanted to get his work done, as he said earlier. “I’m fine.” she rolled her eyes.

Ray disappeared again, and Jane followed him. They were in the kitchen, and with that lightning, Jane couldn’t tell whether the walls were purple or brown. And this, on the other hand, matched to Ray – to his personality.

“Sit there.” Ray nodded his head at the different room. As dark as the kitchen, but this time the walls were covered with a deep shade of blue. But what caught Jane’s attention were thick, plaid curtains and the dinner table. There were a lot of furniture and decorations, but all of that seemed to be hidden in the dimness.

Jane beheld a first-aid kit in Ray’s hands, so she chose to sit at the dining table because of the best lightning.

“You don’t have to do this.” Jane said, watching Ray as he was unpacking the things he intended to use. “It’s not like I’ll bleed out to death...”

“We have talked about this, haven’t we?” he raised his eyebrows. “I will take you home safely, when I’m done.”

Knowing that Ray would do whatever he had to do anyway, Jane decided to give up. All she could do was to sit there without making a sound. Ray sat down to her left, to be closer to her cheek. Jane wanted to note that it was just a scratch, but she knew it was pointless. So her eyes were wandering all over the surface of the table, trying to find something interesting enough to stick to it for longer.

“Are you going to throw up?” Ray asked. Jane looked at him and shook her head. “In that case, what is it, Jane?”

She was watching him preparing himself. He put a disposable rubber gloves on, which seemed like too much effort for Jane, and he took a cotton pad and a bottle with some fluid in it. “I’m just thinking.” Jane shrugged.

“About what?” his voice was quiet, almost soft. Focused on his task, Ray took a quick look on Jane’s cheek. He might haven’t been interested in her thoughts, but he was still waiting for the answer.

“Who brings a knife to a bar fight...” Jane narrowed her eyes, and Ray closed his own in disappointment. “Unsatisfied with the answer?” she tried not to smile, but failed. “Sorry. I will be quiet.”

Ray applied a few drops of the fluid, which turned out to be a disinfectant, on the cotton pad and brought it to her face. He pressed it gently, and moved across the entire length of the scratch. “Does it hurt?”

“No, I’m a big gir- OH FUCK!” she screamed, when the disinfectant started to working.

Ray smiled slightly with amusement. He put the pad away and leaned towards her a bit, then he blew on the scratch to ease the pain with the cool air. “It that better?”

Jane nodded. She was too tired to talk, and too afraid of it. She thought if she open her mouth, the pain would appear again. She had enough pain for that day.

Ray took the gloves off and started to putting everything back into the first-aid kit. Watching his movements, Jane frowned in confusion. “Wait, won’t we put a dressing on that?”

“No, we won’t.” Ray replied, getting up from his seat. “We will let it breathe, so it can heal faster. If it is alright.”

“It is. You don’t have the ones with animals anyway, so...” she shrugged. She stand up and decided to change the spot. She sunk back into the brown, leather couch in the other part of the room. It was creaking with every movement of her, so Jane just stopped to move. “All these walls are so dark... Why?” she spoke a bit louder so he could hear her.

“Because I painted them that way.” from where he was standing, Ray answered after a while. “Does that satisfy your curiosity?” he stepped out of the kitchen and went to the living room. He found her on his couch – sleeping peacefully with the hair cascading down her face. “Great.” Ray gasped. 


End file.
